Paint me by numbers, color me in
by Marchtoyourowndrum
Summary: When Lucy Heartphilia gets tired of her life in the uptight Everlue Academy and in the life her father forced her into, she takes matters into her own hands and transfers to a whole new school. What is waiting for her at the Vermillion Academy?


_Paint me by Numbers, Color me in_

_Chapter 1: I'm gonna pick up the pieces_

Lucy took in a deep breath as she stepped out of her father's supplied car and stared at the looming school before her.

Lucy could still smell the scents of summer on the air, now being mixed with the scent of over-used perfume that she had come to always relate to her school and the general feeling of discomfort. It wasn't that she didn't like school, she actually loved school, loved learning and reading, but she didn't have much a heart for the school her uptight father forced her to attend.

The Everlue Boarding Academy for Girls was not the ideal school that Lucy had ever thought of. The Academy was pretty much just the daughters of a bunch of rich old men, stuffed into uncomfortable dresses that were the uniform, and put together in a school for three fourths of the year and then flown or driven home to their equally prison like homes, forced to live together (Lucy was a generally nice person but the girls here were very much invested in their own persons rather than meeting the girls who had the same fate as them.) Except for Lucy's cousin, Michelle, who was another attendant of the school, most of the girls weren't really in Lucy's social group. They all politely talked and went to social events together, but none of them were really close friends save for a few.

Lucy gave a self-depreciating sigh and tugged her suitcase down the main pathway. She nodded and smiled and waved at the familiar faces but generally let herself revel in her own thoughts.

If it were up to Lucy, which let's be honest it never would be, she would never have applied to the Everlue Academy, also on the sheer fact alone that the teachers were all creepy and the Principal, Duke Everlue, was even creepier. Lucy would rather have gone to a public school, or one of the normal Boarding Schools and definitely not one that was an all-girls school. Lucy had heard about various schools like that, and she had wished and hoped that her father would let her transfer, but as soon as she spoke the words to her father they were shut down immediately.

Lucy sighed and resigned herself to another year of the Everlue Academy. Hopefully junior year wouldn't be as bad as she thought.

She gets about a month or so into the school year until Lucy is quite ready to tear out her own pretty blonde hair. Michelle sat on the edge of her bed and watched her cousin pace the length of her room.

"Lucy? Is something the matter?" Michelle asked politely.

While they were related Michelle was much more polite and calm and lady-like, unlike Lucy who amongst their small family was known for standing up to her father on a few occasions and being a little more outspoken than the rest. Lucy knew this as well, she had heard the maids and cooks whispering behind closed doors at how much Lucy resembled her late mother, in more than just looks, a similar conviction and personality and penchant for getting into troubling situations that was until her freedom had practically been stripped away by her father.

"It's just this school! This place! This life!" Lucy yelled stomping around the room, glaring at random objects and resisting the urge to throw things.

"Well what do you want to do about it?" Michelle asked leaning back on the bed, she was quite used to Lucy's fits of anger, she found them endearing of her younger cousin.

"I want to leave, but I can't!" Lucy moaned flopping face first onto the bed. Michelle laughed and patted her head softly.

"Well you can grin and bear it, is what most people here will tell you." Michelle pondered aloud. Lucy made a muffled disgusted noise. "Or you can get up and do something about it?"

"I've asked about it! Father won't let me!" Lucy yelled.

"Try again? Perseverance is an important life quality." Michelle quipped.

Lucy shoved lightly at her cousin. "Oh shut up, what are you a fortune cookie?"

"Answers come to those who choose not to seek."

Lucy kicked her laughing cousin of the bed with a smug smirk. She stuck her tongue out and rolled over to go to sleep, Michelle picked herself up, dusted herself off, and walked calmly over to her bed opposite of Lucy's and lay down. "Sleep on it Lucy. The answer could come to you in a dream or something. Like in those romance novels you love."

Michelle pretended not to see the pillow that landed above her head or the annoyed groan of the blonde in the bed across from her. Lucy rolled over onto her back in her bed as she heard her cousin's breaths even out in the tell-tale sign of a deep sleep.

She sighed and stared at the patterns of moonlight filtering across her ceiling, she could try and talk to her father again, but like last time that probably wasn't going to go very well for her. She could always forge his signature and transfer without him knowing, but that would blow up into her face. She wasn't a very good forger.

Lucy jumped out of bed and paced the room, there had to be something she could do. Halfway through her pacing an idea struck Lucy and she nearly cheered in glee, there was a sort of compromise that she could do with her first two plans, and she wouldn't even have to tell her dad where she was transferring.

Lucy sat back down on her bed with a plop, she had three days until the end of the week, when she had the opportunity to go home and get the papers signed by her father and then on Monday she could be happily on her way to a new school, and hopefully a new life.

Lucy was practically vibrating with all of her excess energy and nerves throughout the day, and if the amounts of stares and reprimands she got showed anything, it was that everyone could see it too. When she vaulted into the lunch table beside Michelle, her cousin simply stared at her and sighed gave her a knowing look and the continued eating her lunch. Lucy picked at her food and kept glancing at the clock, she only had a few more classes to go through until the end of the day.

The lunch bell rang and Lucy jumped out of her seat, Michelle watched as she raced away to her next class throwing a hasty, "See you later!" over her shoulder, Michelle waved back but she knew the probability of Lucy seeing her later was very low.

Three classes later and Lucy cheered at the sound of the bell. She got up out of her seat and pushed past all the girls in her classes ignoring the dirty looks and affronted stares.

Lucy skidded to a halt in front of the office doors and smoothed out her uniform dress. She walked in the doors like the lady her Father and this school had hoped to turn her into.

"Ah Ms. Heartphilia, this way please." The Secretary smiled, Lucy nodded and gracefully followed after the shy adult.

Duke Everlue was hardly ever involved in anything with the school; he left that to the assistant principal, a strange woman who went by the name Virgo, or one of the board members that seemed to always be on hand.

"Hello Ma'am." Virgo smiled. Lucy smiled back unsurely, Virgo was unusually polite and it kind of freaked her out.

"Uhh, hi?"

"So we're here to discuss your transfer?"

"Yup! I mean yes." Lucy said catching herself. Her mind began to wander as Virgo began to explain the details and process of how to transfer and what it entailed.

"So all you need now is the signature of your father or guardian stating that they approved of the transfer and you can fax that to both this school and your new one and you should be able to start at the new school on Monday." Virgo said pushing various piles of paper in front of Lucy's face.

Lucy froze for a second and realized that in her haste to make this plan and to get out of the suffocating environment that this school had, she hadn't actually picked out a new school.

Virgo noticed her hesitation. "You have picked a school right Ms. Heartphilia?"

Lucy laughed self-consciously. "I meant to I swear! It's just that I was so distracted by the rest of it that I didn't decide on one…"

Virgo muttered to herself and began to dig though drawers; she came back armed to the teeth with pamphlets. "Here read these and choose."

Lucy gulped and began to leaf through the first brochure on top of the mountain before her. This was a slight set back.

A little more than an hour later, Lucy sighed and stared at the mess in front of her. Most of the schools had sounded quite interesting over all, but she had to cast out the non-boarding schools, since she didn't have enough money on her own to live in an apartment and she was a minor so there was essentially no way that would happen. She pulled out 3 different pamphlets. These were the ones she was having a tough time deciding between.

The first was Garuna Prep, a boarding school on an island just off the coast of the nearby port. Lots of girls used to tell stories about that school and the hints of a haunted room or something. It all seemed pretty interesting to Lucy and it was a pretty good school.

The next was the Kotobuki Private School, which was a male version of her school now, so she pushed that one to the other reject pile, some of the other rejects were Cerberus High School, and Porla Preparatory School as well.

Lucy looked at the last one in her hands, it was the Vermillion Academy, she hadn't heard much about it before, and it seemed to have a very successful kendo team among other sports and a good enough education. Lucy paused she had heard of the school before but what was it?

She propped her head up against her chin as she contemplated the school's name, it was so familiar and now she couldn't stop thinking about it. She smirked in realization when the flashback came to her.

_Magnolia Town – 1 year ago_

Lucy sighed as she stared out at the slightly busy street next to the pavilion of the restaurant she was currently at. She half-heartedly listened to the babble of the girls next to her. At the moment Lucy, Michelle and a few of their friends from school were on a vacation posed as a field trip with their school and the brother school the Kotobuki Private School. It wasn't a really important or all that exciting of a trip to most of the students. It was just a 3 day stay in the nearby Magnolia Town to 'observe' the port life and the harbor for their required business classes and something about trade and commerce. Lucy honestly didn't care for business all that much.

Also the lunch she was at was pretty much boring, Michelle and the other two girls they were with were currently engrossed in their own conversations with some boys from Kotobuki and the one who kept on trying to talk to Lucy the whole time was a creep, his name was Dan or something and Lucy just wasn't having any of it.

"So Lucy, how is your year going?" Dan asked scooting his chair closer to Lucy's.

"Oh uh, good?" Lucy mumbled leaning away and crossing her arms putting more distance between her and Dan and the arm that he oh so casually draped across her chair a moment ago.

"Oh yes, my year at Kotobuki is quite fun as well. You seem like such a wonderful girl, may I have your number so we could talk later after this day is over?"

Lucy blanched, she didn't want to talk to this guy at all but she didn't want to be rude or anything to him. She tried to kick at Michelle's legs under the table to get her attention or something but it was to no avail. Lucy was alone in this situation.

"Um you're nice and all but I don't really think-" Lucy began as she noticed Dan's face begin to lean in closer to hers, his eyes closed and Lucy gaped. How could he honestly think that kissing her would be okay?! She in no way was giving off any go-ahead-and-kiss-me signals, they were more like back off signals, but trust an idiot like this to confuse or completely ignore the two.

Lucy was midway through an escape route plan (her current route was either jump over the little fence behind her onto the sidewalk/pathway or to duck underneath the table like she dropped her fork or something. She was leaning more toward the former.) when out of nowhere a Frisbee smacked into Dan's face and then gently landed in her lap. Dan swore loudly, garnering the attention of all their friends, and threw his hand over his nose. Lucy turned to see who had thrown the object.

"Haha! Sorry dude!"

Lucy turned to her right and saw a pretty tall guy with pink hair (seriously? Pink hair?) standing on the other side of the railing laughing.

"Ugh Natsu you idiot." A black haired guy said strolling up the railing as well, and a serious looking red haired girl came up behind other them as well.

"Natsu apologize to these people." The girl said.

"But I did Erza!" Natsu pouted.

Erza glared at him a little and Natsu laughed self-consciously "Sorry 'bout hitting your face there dude."

"Whatever." Dan mumbled through his hand.

Natsu then noticed Lucy who was not so subtly gaping at the trio. "Hi there! I'm Natsu! This idiot is Gray and that's Erza." Natsu said gesturing to the people behind him.

"Hi, I'm Lucy." Lucy said smiling and waving at them. "Oh here's your Frisbee back."

"Haha thanks!" Natsu beamed grabbing the Frisbee from her outstretched hand. "Oi you two! Let's go Gray I'm going to crush you this round!"

With that the trio took of one after the other back down the street. Lucy blinked at the spot they were all standing a second ago. That seemed so strange.

"Ugh I knew I recognized those jackets. Dumb Vermillion kids." Dan said angrily.

"Huh? Vermillion?" Lucy asked him.

"The Vermillion Academy, it's the local boarding school. They have a pretty good kendo team but the school itself is made mostly of losers and orphans who like live at school all year or something." Dan said disinterestedly. "We play them in kendo every year and they somehow always win."

"Oh. Sounds interesting." Lucy said looking back down the street to where they had disappeared too.

_Present Day_

Lucy smiled to herself as she held the Vermillion Academy pamphlet in her hand.

"I've made my choice." Lucy smiled at Virgo who waited patiently at her side of the table.

"Ah, Vermillion interesting choice. So you are now free to go, be sure to fax this signed papers to both schools when your father signs them." Virgo smiled putting together the rest of the pamphlets and straightening up the room.

"Okay. Goodbye, Thank you." Lucy bowed leaving the room.

"It is no problem Ms. Heartphilia."

Lucy smiled and practically skipped her way to her room, though she hadn't realized it was already evening by the time got out of the office. In her room Michelle was nowhere to be found.

"Hm, she must have gone home for the weekend already." Lucy shrugged to herself and wrote her cousin a note telling her goodbye; Lucy hesitated for a moment before leaving off the name of the school she had chosen. She didn't want her father or any news reporters to have any way of finding her. She knew that this transfer was going to bring news to the school and her family most likely. No one in their right mind had ever transferred from a prestigious uptight school like the Everlue Boarding Academy into a slightly known school that had no real prominence behind its reputation.

She got into the car that was idling waiting for her at the front of the academy. She threw her suitcases into the trunk of the car, ignoring the look the driver gave her. Lucy had to stop herself from chewing on her lip during the almost 2 hour trip to her house. So she was slightly worried about what was going to happen with her father, I mean the worse that could happen was he wouldn't sign…and then Lucy could just forge it right?

She gave a long suffering sigh herself and flopped further into her seat attempting to nap instead of having to worry over what was about to happen.

Thankfully the rest of the ride happened uneventfully and as soon as Lucy got to her house, she was summoned into the dining room to eat dinner with her father and converse over her transfer.

The dinner itself was the usual affair. It was quite and tense. Lucy felt stifled under the silence of the room. There was no noise besides the maids feet against the carpet and the clinking of silverware against the plates.

"Father." Lucy said garnering the barest of movements of her father.

"What is it?" He grumbled.

"I need you to sign a form for me and then fax it." Lucy said after a moment's hesitation.

He brought his head up and looked at her fully, folding his hands beneath his chin. "What forms?"

Lucy swallowed and gave out a short breath. "My transfer papers. I'm transferring from Everlue."

As expected her father shot out of her seat and brought his hands down hard on the table. "What do you mean by this nonsense?! No one from a family like ours has ever left that academy! You will drag our family name through the dirt!"

Lucy felt her own anger boil as she jumped up out of her seat. "I can't stand it there! I hate it! It's not like im going to broadcast my leaving to the world! It's just a school! Either you can sign the papers and I leave or Im just going to leave without telling you and then what will that say about our family?!"

Her father stared hard at her for a moment before resuming his dinner without saying a word. Lucy glared at him and left the room.

Later Lucy sat in her room, and would deny sulking over the talk to anyone that accused her of it, but that is what she was definitely doing. She was halfway through a new plan when the door to her room opened and her father stood in the doorway.

"The chauffeur will take you to this new 'school' on Monday. You will not tell anyone where you transferred from or out last name. I will not have disgrace brought upon this house because you had to leave Everlue."

Lucy stared gaping at her father for a long moment before smiling at him. "Yes I understand. Thank you."

Her father nodded and left the room.

The rest of the weekend passed in a flurry Lucy was either packing or getting ready or going over her plans and then before she knew it, it was Monday morning and she was being ushered into the car. She gave one last glance at her house as the car peeled out into the driveway.

It felt like a whole lifetime later that she was dropped off in front of her new school and her new life, the Vermillion Academy.

She smiled to herself and wheeled her bags in through the gates.

Her life began now.


End file.
